When is a mental health crisis too severe for telehealth? Warning signs families shouldn't ignore

As the Lindsay Clancy murder trial spotlights the psychiatric care she received before the killings of her three children, the case has raised broader questions about the growing reliance on telehealth for mental health conditions .

Nearly half (48.3%) of American adults with serious mental illness now receive some type of mental health treatment via telehealth, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Clancy reportedly had 14 virtual visits with her primary psychiatrist , Dr.

Jennifer Tufts, over a five-month period, from September 2022 through Jan.

23, 2023, according to testimony reported by The Associated Press.

The final appointment was on Jan.

23, the day before the killings.

The two never met in person.

POSTPARTUM MOM LINDSAY CLANCY ON TRIAL FOR MURDER BRINGS COURT TO A HALT WITH SUDDEN BREAKDOWN During cross-examination, Clancy’s defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, questioned Tufts about her reliance on virtual appointments, per AP.

"Did you ever suggest to her that 'maybe you should come in and see me, rather than on the computer?'" Reddington asked.

"Talking to her over the video didn't seem like an issue," Tufts responded.

"It didn't seem like there was something I was missing." CUT OFF BY YOUR ADULT CHILD? PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCHER REVEALS WHAT PARENTS SHOULD DO NEXT Jonathan Alpert, Ph.D., a New York psychotherapist — who was not involved in Clancy's care and was speaking generally about telehealth rather than the specifics of her treatment — said virtual care can work very well, but that "there comes a point where a screen may not be enough." "If someone is becoming suicidal, psychotic , manic, unstable or unable to function, the clinician has to consider whether that person needs to be seen in person or needs a higher level of care," Alpert, author of "Therapy Nation: How America Got Hooked on Therapy and Why It's Left Us More Anxious and Divided," told Fox News Digital.

"The priority has to be getting an accurate picture of what’s going on and keeping the patient safe." Telehealth plays an important function in mental healthcare and offers many benefits, Alpert noted.

"As a provider, I can see far more people in a day doing virtual therapy than I could if I were doing in-office treatment," he told Fox News Digital.